The Orphanage
by Michelle Gilman
Summary: Kaoru never suspected her perfect life to be ruined. Then again, she never expected to keep running into a strange, yet cool and hansome, red haired boy. She didn't expect to live with him, and she most definitely didn't expect to fall for him... K
1. Prologue The Plan

A/N: Hey, this is based off a novel I'm writing, so it's more planned out than most of my other stories

A/N: Hey, this is based off a novel I'm writing, so it's more planned out than most of my other stories. And unlike my other stories, I'm planning to finish this one. Haha. So please enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin, however, I **do** own this story.

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Prologue – The Plan

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"Schmidt?" a man with a long bandages all over his body questioned.

The sickly pale man standing in front of him nodded. "Henry Schmidt," he repeated the man's full name.

The bandaged man stroked his chin. His cold eyes were distant as he stared ahead, thinking about the plan and going over it in his head one last time. "The man has a daughter, correct?" he asked suddenly, turning his focus back to sickly pale man.

His accomplice nodded, his eyes not leaving the bandaged man's eyes. "Two actually. One is his actual daughter, Anya. She's twelve and is first in line after his wife to inherit the fortune. Then, there's the younger daughter, or should I say, foster daughter. Her name is Kaoru Kamiya. They adopted her from overseas. She's next in line after Anya to inherit his multi-million dollar fortune when she turns eighteen," the pale man replied, listing off the research he'd done.

The bandages bobbed up and down with the man's head as he slowly nodded. "How old is she?"

"She'll be six in a few months," he answered.

"Then we have a while to prepare."

"Prepare for what sir?"

"The Coca-Pepso fortune will be ours, rest assured. I have a fool proof plan to get it," he replied, rubbing his hands together with a malicious smirk on his face.

The man with the pale skin looked like he was about to object, but then thought better of it and closed his mouth, slightly nodding in respect to his bandaged boss. "Then it shall be done," he obeyed.

The smirk on his master's face widened. "I'm glad to see you remembered your place. Your years of service have only begun Saito," he warned. He stood up from the comfortable chair he'd been sitting in during the conversation and snapped.

Immediately, two men in all black came up behind him wearing sunglasses and slicked back hair. They gave Saito a once over before heading out with his boss, following behind closely with watchful eyes behind their dark shades.

"They'll be over soon," Saito spat at no one in particular when they were out of earshot. He would find the perfect time to kill the bushy bearded man and end whatever mad war he was planning.

He growled a few curse words before he walked away, following the footsteps of the man who practically owned him, not noticing as a little girl was hiding behind the corner.

Her long dark, raven colored hair swished as she quickly peeked around the corner to find that the man she had heard talking about her and her family were gone. She didn't understand what they had said. It was hard to hear from such a distance away and to even comprehend in her five-year old mind, but she knew her and her family's names when she heard them.

The little girl's sapphire blue eyes were rimmed with fear. The men sounded scary and they made angry faces at each other like they were fighting.

When a deep voice called her name, she followed her father's voice, forgetting all about what she'd heard when the promise of candy was shouted. Little did she know, she could have saved many people's lives, especially the lives of her family…

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A/N: this is a REALLY short chapter, I know, but the others will be many pages longer, just look at the next chapter to see!

Review?

Thanks!

Micki G

xoxoxo


	2. Chapter 1 The Attack

A/N: Hey, hope you enjoyed the prologue, now here's where the fun really begins

A/N: Hey, hope you enjoyed the prologue, now here's where the fun really begins! Don't forget to review!

Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin.

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Chapter 1 – The Flash

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Kaoru jammed a piece of toast into her mouth and began tying her tennis shoes.

"Kaoru!" Carol's voice snapped.

She looked up at her. "Yeah mom?" she asked.

"No tying your shoes at the table, you know that's improper," Carol sighed, rolling her eyes. Carol had always been so prim and proper, teaching Kaoru how to sit up straight and how to use certain utensils at the table when they ate. She was very into cooking home cooked meals and tried her hardest to teach Kaoru since she was seven, but she never had gotten the hang of cooking. "And don't shove a whole piece of toast in your mouth. Small bites Kaoru, small bites."

She got up and took the shoe that wasn't on her foot yet with her. After her back was facing Carol she rolled her eyes. "Who cares? It's not like we have any guests over or anything," she mumbled to herself.

She shoved her shoe on and laced it up in the entry way. As she reached for her backpack, her sister, Anya, walked downstairs. "Kaoru, guess what day it is!" she exclaimed with a smile.

Kaoru felt her mouth twitch upwards. "I don't know, what day?" she joked.

Anya laughed. "Your birthday silly!" she said, walking over to Kaoru and engulfing her in a hug.

Kaoru cringed. She hated people touching her. It was always a weird quirk she'd had. It didn't bother her if people patted her on the shoulders or anything, or if she touched someone. But if it was unexpected or awkward, she hated it. "Let go!" she yelled.

Anya only laughed and let go of her. "Sorry Kaoru, but it's a special day," she said.

"Tell dad I said 'bye' okay?" Kaoru asked, picking up her backpack and slinging it over her shoulder. She walked out the door, not really waiting for an answer.

She loved her family a lot, but it sometimes annoyed her how sophisticated it was at home. Then again, they kind of had to be. Her dad, Henry Shmidt, was the business manager of a company called Coca-Pepso. It was the single biggest soda company in the nation, which made her family extremely wealthy.

She hated being known as "Henry Shmidt's daughter" or "the rich kid". She wasn't even his daughter to begin with. She had been abandoned as a baby and adopted by Henry at 8 months old. She'd come from Japan and never met any of her real family. She knew Henry and Carol as her parents, but she had always felt out of place in the family, except for Anya. Anya was their real daughter, and almost eleven years older than her, but she'd always been Kaoru's best friend.

That's when Kaoru felt herself bump into something and she clung to the nearest thing instinctively as she fell forward. She hit something hard, but she could tell it wasn't the pavement.

"I know I'm oh so handsome, but you didn't have to grope me. You could've just said hi," a voice came from underneath her. It was close to her. She could feel the person's breath in her ear.

Kaoru's eyes snapped open and the first thing she saw was long flame red hair tangled up in her fingers. She sat up slowly and looked at the person's face. Too her surprise, it was a boy. He had beautiful violet eyes, slightly feminine features, and a smirk sitting smugly on his face.

He sat up too, and she realized that his hair was tied into a low ponytail. Shorter strands framed his face and hung slightly in front of his eyes. "What's a matter? Lost in my eyes?" he jeered again.

Kaoru snapped back to her senses. "In your dreams!" she yelled with a pout. She put up her hands as if she were in a boxing ring. "Don't make me punch your lights out, you pervert!"

"I believe you fell on top of me, that I do," he replied calmly, looking her straight in the eyes.

She quirked an eyebrow at the way he spoke. "You talk funny," she said bluntly.

He slipped a hand under her knees and behind her back without a word. Only a smile crossed the strange boy's face as she blushed. He stood up slowly, and was about to let her down, when Kaoru flipped out.

"D-Don't touch me!" she shrieked, shooting out a fist. She felt it hit his jaw and he fell backwards while she quickly slipped out of his hands, landing clumsily on her feet.

He glared up at her, one hand on his cheek and a scowl on his face. "What was that for? I was only trying to help!" he shouted angrily.

"You were trying to cop a cheap feel!" she shouted back. "Just because I'm wearing a skirt, doesn't mean I don't know how to fight!"

"I was just trying to be a gentleman after _you_ weren't watching where you were going and bumped into me!" he yelled.

"Yeah right, pervert!" she called over her shoulder, walking away.

"Crazy girl!" he called back, getting up.

'_Honestly! What was his problem? Stupid jerk, thinking that just because he's handsome, he can do that to a girl,_' she thought angrily as she stomped along the sidewalk. Her long raven ponytail swished behind her. She heard steps behind her and turned around to see the boy was following her. "Stop following me, creep!"

He glared at her as if he was going to yell again, but calmly replied, "I'm just walking to school. I go to your school, judging by your uniform."

She blinked, looking at his clothes. He was telling the truth. He was wearing the uniform for her high school, Jinbo High School.

By now, he'd caught up to her and she started walking again. They were silent the entire way, not saying a word to each other. She felt her sapphire eyes glance over at him every once and a while and quickly looked away when she caught herself.

It seemed like forever before they reached the huge school building. Kaoru had never been happier to see the huge building in her whole life!

The big town clock made a low, loud bonging sound and Kaoru felt her eyes widen. "I'm late! It's eight o'clock!" she screamed, throwing her hands up in the air. She dashed for the door, waving at the boy over her shoulder and practically ran into the door.

The boy smiled at her clumsiness. "What a crazy girl," he mumbled, before slowly starting his way to the front doors of the school.

Kaoru dashed up the steps and saw the door of her classroom closed. She leaned against the wall and took a couple deep breaths before getting on her hands and knees. She carefully opened the door to the classroom and silently cheered when she saw the teacher not looking. She crawled on the floor, carefully keeping her head low and got to her seat.

"I thought I closed this," the teacher said, sighing. She walked over and closed the door, and turned to the class. "Alright class, today, we're going to learn about…"

Kaoru sighed, thankful that she was still good at sneaking around.

"Nice work," Tomoe whispered.

Kaoru turned to her and smiled. "Thanks! I thought it was pretty good too," she whispered back.

They'd been best friends since they were babies. Everyone always thought they were twins or sisters because they looked so much alike. Tomoe had been her first friend. They met in kindergarten. Her parents were also very wealthy, and Tomoe could relate to Kaoru. Tomoe was a little more popular than Kaoru was though, because she was more of a girly girl. Kaoru, on the other hand, was more of a tomboy. The only time she wore skirts were to school because of the uniform.

Without any warning at all, a flash lit up the entire room. Everyone rushed to the windows to see what it was.

"What was that?" Tomoe asked.

Kaoru shook her head. "Lightning maybe?" she asked.

"No, it couldn't be. It's not raining. There aren't even any clouds in the sky," she reported, craning her neck to see out the window. Another flash lit up the room and everyone screamed.

"Let's sneak out and go see Megumi while everyone's distracted," Kaoru suggested, a devilish smile crossing her face.

Tomoe rolled her eyes. "Goodness Kaoru, can you stay out of trouble for even a minute?" she asked with a sigh.

Kaoru shook her head. "Now let's go!" she exclaimed, grabbing her backpack and getting up. It was only half because she wanted to see Megumi. Kaoru had a bad feeling about this place. She felt like she needed to get out of there. Right now.

Tomoe reluctantly followed her out the door.

They travelled down the halls to the East Wing of the huge school. It didn't take long to find Megumi's room, since the hallways were mostly clear and they'd snuck out many times before. Kaoru cracked open the door to see everyone was crowded around the window, and their teacher was trying desperately to get them to go sit back in their seats.

Megumi caught sight of Kaoru and Tomoe and grabbed the hall pass. "What are you guys doing here?" she asked with a smile. Of course she knew what they were doing, they'd done this many times, but she always felt like she had to scold them for it.

"We couldn't help it!" Kaoru exclaimed. "Have you seen the brilliant flashes?" she asked, as they started walking back towards the West Wing.

They were laughing about how the teachers were so gullible and how any little thing could catch their attention when the ground shook like an earthquake had hit.

Kaoru lost her balance and fell, grabbing onto Tomoe and pulling her down as well. They both hit the ground hard and grunted in pain. "Sorry Tomoe," she apologized. "It was a reflex."

Tomoe smiled. "It's fine," she said, waving it off.

A searing pain was going down Kaoru's leg. The feeling from before was growing. She couldn't help but feel that something was terribly wrong, but what was it? She stood up, trying to ignore the pain. "We have to get out of here right now," she announced.

"Are you crazy?" Megumi asked. "Whatever is outside could kill us! If it's lightning, it would strike us!"

Kaoru stopped, realizing that Megumi was right. There was no way out of this school for now. They might die either way. "Alright, well, let's go back to the West Wing and see what's happening," she decided.

The other girls nodded and started heading that way. Kaoru's leg felt like it was on fire. There was a dark purple bruise on her leg. She'd been hurt way worse before, but right now it felt as if her leg was broken.

"Kaoru, are you al-"

Tomoe's words were lost as a shrill sound filled the air.

"Students and teachers," she heard the P.A. system sound, "We are currently experiencing an air raid. This is not a test. I repeat, this is not a test! Please take cover under your desks to shield yourselves from falling debris!"

The three looked at each other in horror and fear. The ground shook again as the alarm sounded again and Kaoru fell, this time, not able to stand back up.

Her friends knelt down next to her. "Kaoru! Kaoru, are you alright?" they asked, helping her sit up.

The sound of an explosion filled their ears and they all turned to face the window. She could see that one side of the city was crumbling and falling, while the other stayed completely fine. She narrowed her eyes at the sight, it was definitely not normal.

The high pitched sound of the air raid siren filled their ears again and Kaoru clamped her hands over her ears and squeezed her eyes shut, trying to block out the awful sound.

It was then that her life changed forever. The ground shook ten times more violently than it had before and she opened her eyes. She could see the ceiling was starting to crumble and she grabbed her friends' hands. "Come on!" she screamed, dragging them along with her.

Neither of them argued and followed behind her as fast as they could.

Kaoru looked back to see the spot where they were just standing cave in and fill with tiles and debris from the ceiling. Her breathing was getting quicker and her heart was beating fast inside of her chest, threatening to burst out at any second.

The thick scent of smoke hung in the air. It was making her choke and wheeze as she ran and she felt like she was going to throw up. Finally, she couldn't stand the putrid smell any longer and fell to her knees.

Her friends got down along with her and Tomoe looked at her quizzically.

Kaoru wasn't surprised that Tomoe wasn't in bad shape. She was a fighter, and definitely had a lot of will power. She had always been the strongest out of the three of them and taken care of them too many times to count, although Kaoru was close behind in strength.

She felt a tremor on her arm and looked over to see Megumi shaking. She was wide-eyed and her hair was a mess. Her wheezing was loud enough to hear over all the explosions that seemed like they were getting closer and closer. Suddenly, she let out a hacking cough and a spot of blood formed on the floor, drops still falling from her mouth.

"Megumi!" Kaoru shrieked, crawling over to her with Tomoe behind her.

Her eyes were heavy and she fell over on her side, her hair sprawled out all around her head. More blood was coming from her mouth and her chest was rising and falling slower.

"Megumi!" she screamed again. "You better fight it! You hear me? I'll never forgive you if you die on me!" Her mouth felt like someone had shoved a whole package of cotton balls down her throat, but she ignored it as she yelled out to her friend.

Her screaming did nothing though, she just laid on the floor.

The sound of footsteps alerted her and she looked down the hall.

That strange boy from this morning was rushing to them at the speed of light. His fiery red hair was pushed out of his face by the wind as he ran with a determined look on his face. He stopped in front of them, his amethyst eyes gleaming with surprise at seeing her again.

"You," he simply said. There was no tone of annoyance, or happiness in his voice. It was flat and plain.

"Yes me," Kaoru said in a panic, having no time to think of a comeback for him. "Help Megumi!" she shouted at him, feeling her throat become even drier from all the smoke that she was inhaling.

The boy looked down at the unconscious Megumi and nodded. Kaoru guessed that he realized it was an emergency and not a time for smart mouthed comments. He bent over and picked her up like she was weightless. His amethyst eyes glanced at her and she could swear she saw a curious look in them before he quickly sped off in the other direction.

She glanced at Tomoe, who was giving her a look that said, 'Who is he?' She just looked away and watched him carry away Megumi.

It didn't take long for him to get out of her sight because of the heavy smoke that had now poured into the room like a lake. She coughed violently. Her lungs were on fire!

There was an extremely large crash and she craned her neck to look out the window. She saw a huge orange cloud coming at them and grabbed Tomoe's hand. She immediately shoved Tomoe to the ground, following suit, so that the fire would go over them.

Just as she had predicted, the fire blazed through the window and singed the end of her indigo hair tie. She crawled forward, knowing that the fire would make the ceiling collapse once again.

When they got to another window, she heard another bomb go off. Just like before, she and Tomoe got as low as they could to the ground, except this time, they weren't as lucky.

There was no fire, but the impact had made the window shatter. Kaoru looked up and saw a shard flying at her. She quickly ducked, not realizing Tomoe was on her knees, also looking at the window.

The shard that had missed her flew right into Tomoe's chest.

Time seemed to slow way down for Kaoru as she heard Tomoe's blood curdling scream. She watched helplessly as fear, panic, and pain slowly quickly went through her eyes before her eyes were lifeless and empty. She watched in horror as Tomoe's arms swung loosely to her sides, and she fell forward, pushing the shard farther into her body.

Kaoru was completely numb. She couldn't even feel the multiple tears running down her face like mini rivers. She looked at Tomoe, lying still and lifeless on the floor, and slowly crawled over to her.

The numb feeling didn't go away as she crawled over, each step taking an eternity. She held Tomoe by the shoulders and dragged her over to the wall. She looked at Tomoe's half-lidded, lifeless eyes and realized it was real.

Tomoe was dead.

She could now feel her drenched face and cried even harder. She hugged Tomoe tight, hoping to feel Tomoe's warm body return the hug and look at her with her bright and cheery smile. But nothing happened. She was cold and didn't move a muscle. She only hung there limply in Kaoru's arms.

She kept crying, sobbing so loudly, it was a wonder the air raid planes couldn't hear her. There were no more bombs and no more noise. The air raid siren was only sound now. She felt weak for only a moment before she blacked out completely.


End file.
